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Redistricting in Alabama
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Redistricting in Alabama
Redistricting in Alabama is the process by which boundaries are redrawn for federal congressional and state legislative districts. It has historically been highly controversial. Critics have accused legislators of attempting to protect themselves from competition by gerrymandering districts.
The Alabama Legislature did not redraw or modify their state legislative districts from 1901 until after the U.S. Supreme Court's 1964 decision in Reynolds v. Sims, in which the court ruled that state legislative districts must be roughly equal in population.
The 1960 case in Gomillion v. Lightfoot successfully challenged racial gerrymandering in the city of Tuskegee.
The 1980 decision in Mobile v. Bolden held that disproportionate effects alone, absent purposeful discrimination, are insufficient to establish a claim of racial discrimination affecting voting and redistricting. However, after the case was remanded to lower court, subsequent litigation and legislation moved the Mobile City Council from at-large elections to single-winner districts, resulting in the election of African Americans to the city council for the first time since Reconstruction.
Despite advances in voting rights, no African American was elected to Congress from Alabama until after redistricting in 1991, in which the 7th congressional district was redrawn to encompass portions of urban Birmingham and Alabama's eastern Black Belt region. The redrawn district, now majority nonwhite, elected Earl Hilliard Sr. to the U.S. House in 1992, becoming the first Black member from Alabama since Jeramiah Haralson in 1877.
In the 2010 election, both chambers of the legislature flipped parties, with many Democratic members switching parties, resulting in Republicans having control over redistricting for the first time in state history. In the resulting 2010 United States redistricting cycle, the legislature moved to protect Republican incumbents.
In Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial gerrymandering cases pursuant to the Voting Rights Act must be pursued on a district by district basis, rather than by looking at the state as an undifferentiated whole.
Originally, due to a history of disenfranchisement and unfair voting rules, Alabama's congressional and legislative map-making process was subject to preclearance under the Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. However, the Supreme Court removed the preclearance requirement in Shelby County v Holder.
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Redistricting in Alabama
Redistricting in Alabama is the process by which boundaries are redrawn for federal congressional and state legislative districts. It has historically been highly controversial. Critics have accused legislators of attempting to protect themselves from competition by gerrymandering districts.
The Alabama Legislature did not redraw or modify their state legislative districts from 1901 until after the U.S. Supreme Court's 1964 decision in Reynolds v. Sims, in which the court ruled that state legislative districts must be roughly equal in population.
The 1960 case in Gomillion v. Lightfoot successfully challenged racial gerrymandering in the city of Tuskegee.
The 1980 decision in Mobile v. Bolden held that disproportionate effects alone, absent purposeful discrimination, are insufficient to establish a claim of racial discrimination affecting voting and redistricting. However, after the case was remanded to lower court, subsequent litigation and legislation moved the Mobile City Council from at-large elections to single-winner districts, resulting in the election of African Americans to the city council for the first time since Reconstruction.
Despite advances in voting rights, no African American was elected to Congress from Alabama until after redistricting in 1991, in which the 7th congressional district was redrawn to encompass portions of urban Birmingham and Alabama's eastern Black Belt region. The redrawn district, now majority nonwhite, elected Earl Hilliard Sr. to the U.S. House in 1992, becoming the first Black member from Alabama since Jeramiah Haralson in 1877.
In the 2010 election, both chambers of the legislature flipped parties, with many Democratic members switching parties, resulting in Republicans having control over redistricting for the first time in state history. In the resulting 2010 United States redistricting cycle, the legislature moved to protect Republican incumbents.
In Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial gerrymandering cases pursuant to the Voting Rights Act must be pursued on a district by district basis, rather than by looking at the state as an undifferentiated whole.
Originally, due to a history of disenfranchisement and unfair voting rules, Alabama's congressional and legislative map-making process was subject to preclearance under the Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. However, the Supreme Court removed the preclearance requirement in Shelby County v Holder.